The
shuffler: Jim
Adkins, singer and guitarist for the modern rock act Jimmy Eat World. The band
is currently touring behind its sixth album, Chase This Light.
Nickelback,
"How You Remind Me Of Someday"
Jimmy
Adkins:
This is actually two Nickelback songs, one on the left side and one on the
right side. I think the "How You Remind Me" song is on the left side, and then
"Someday" on the other. I can't remember how I got this, but it's pretty
funny—those two songs right next to each other, and they're identical. Right
down to the arrangement, the drum fills, the dynamics… I guess if it ain't
broke, you don't fix it.
The
A.V. Club: Would you call yourself a Nickelback fan?
JA: Um, no. Not at all,
actually.
AVC:
Do you have any kind of baseline level of respect for a band that can sell so
many million records and have so many fans?
JA: I do. I mean, they're
going for it, and it's working. What they're doing is like business, it's
calculated, and it's not easy. People try to do it all the time, and it doesn't
work. For some reason, whether it's imaging or whatever musical motifs they
use, it's working for them. It's on my iPod, so I guess there's something about
it I find interesting.
Philip
Glass, "Etude No. 2"
JA: This is a really good
song, basically like solo piano. I think there's supposed to be 20 etudes in
all. I'm trying to teach myself how to play the second one. I used to play
piano when I was really young, and it's something I've been trying to get back
into. Whenever we're on tour and there's a piano around, I try to figure this
one out.
AVC:
How did you encounter Philip Glass?
JA: From soundtracks. Like Kundun. I think The
Illusionist
is a really good one too. Yeah, from soundtracks, and then I looked into more
of his other work.
AVC:
What's the appeal for you?
JA: The music builds in a
really interesting way. I didn't get that far in college music theory, so I
can't do the academic kind of listening that I'd probably get a lot more out
of, at least with classical music. But yeah, the way it builds. And the
structure of Glass is always accessible. It's interesting and accessible at the
same time. Challenging but not elitist.
Pig
Destroyer, "Torture Ballad"
JA: You couldn't get any more
opposite than that, huh? I think any guy my age has a metal soft spot, and Pig
Destroyer is pretty brutal. If you're gonna listen to metal at all, Pig
Destroyer's a good thing.
AVC:
When you're just goofing around with the band, do you guys ever lay into a
serious metal riff, just to see how far you can go with it?
JA: Sometimes. [Jimmy Eat
World drummer Zach Lind] and I know a lot of Metallica songs, so sometimes we
can go on for a while. God help anyone who happens to be hanging out at sound
check.
AVC:
Do you have a lot of metal in your collection, or is it just a few pieces here
and there?
JA: The stuff I listen to,
it's probably just a few pieces here and there. I pick up the pieces that I
think are the most challenging.
AVC:
So the more extreme, the better?
JA: I guess so. You could
look at metal from the shredder side of things or the aggression and noise side
of things. Different stuff works for me in different ways.
Spoon,
"The Fitted Shirt"
JA: Those guys just don't
stop, man. It's just classic record after classic record. Girls Can Tell is the first record where
I really got into Spoon.
AVC:
With a band like Spoon that's your contemporary, do you listen and study and
let them inspire your own music, or do you just listen as a fan?
JA: I listen as a fan. I
think we're playing some shows with them at festivals later on this year, but I
don't really know them. The bands that I'm friends with, I listen to a lot, but
I kind of know them too well to really… Well, there's a difference when it's
your friend's band.
AVC:
Back in the '60s, Brian Wilson and Paul McCartney were competing and driving
each other forward musically. Are there any bands that could push you like
that?
JA: Like the
Kanye versus 50 thing? [Laughs.] Uh… no. I don't really look at records as a
competition. It'd be kind of fun, though. Every once in a while, us and the
Sparta guys think that we should totally start a feud, but it never gets off
the ground. We'll try being mean to each other, and then we just end up
cracking up.
AVC:
So for the record, you're saying that Sparta sucks.
JA: Yeah! Fuck Sparta!
[Laughs.]
Feist,
"My Moon My Man"
JA: I'm getting a lot of
current stuff here.
AVC:
When did you find Feist? Have you been a fan from the beginning, or just
recently?
JA: Recently, I think. When The
Reminder
came out, there was a thing on NPR about it. I had known who she is, but I'd
never really given her a chance, for whatever reason. No one I rolled around
with had any of her records, so I was never exposed to it, I guess. But this is
a great song.
Explosions
In The Sky, "First Breath After Coma"
JA: From The Earth Is Not
A Cold Dead Place
originally, though I think this might be a live bootleg. I'm not sure. I like
Explosions In The Sky, though.
AVC:
This is the second piece of music to come up that's entirely instrumental.
JA: Yup. It's true. I have a
lot of stuff on my iPod that's "put my headphones on and walk around, check out
where we are" on-tour-type music. Explosions In The Sky is a good one for that.
AVC:
Sort of the soundtrack to your life?
JA: To my pedestrian life,
yes. [Laughs.]
AVC:
When you're in the van or whatever you guys drive around in, do you have to
have a general consensus about what kind of music to listen to?
JA: Everyone would pick
probably a different record to play at any given moment, but we all see
eye-to-eye on what we think is good.
AVC:
Are you all listening on your own separate headphones?
JA: Sometimes. Or a lot of
times, I'll put my iPod on random and just let it be our own personal radio
station that plays all day. Also, Zach just bought a new record player, so he's
been playing a bunch of old Tom Petty records.
AVC:
You have a record player for the bus?
JA: Yes.
AVC:
It doesn't skip when you go over bumps?
JA: We drive at night, when
we're sleeping, so you don't have to worry about your records getting too
messed up.
Mark
Kozelek, "Carry Me Ohio"
JA: Another live version. I
really like how Mark Kozelek is constantly looking for different ways to make
his older material new. Richard Buckner does that a lot, too. They make it
interesting for themselves, and reinterpret the songs as they're playing.
AVC:
This is another song that would be good for walking around, because it's about
eight minutes long, right?
JA: Yeah, 8:40, 8:50.
AVC:
Do you like long songs generally?
JA: Sure. But it's really
about the song feeling complete. If it works in eight minutes or if it works in
15 seconds, it's good with me.